OPINION- By Addis G. Tadesse – World Health Organization Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom went political in his new year message saying he was seriously concerned about what is happening in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. He claimed he could not get through to his younger brother who he said was in Tigray.
That is a clear abuse of office and privileged position, according to the Code of Ethics of the United Nations. He implied that what is going on in Tigray was hurtful. He chose to not mention what immediately caused the “law enforcement operation” the Ethiopian government launched in Tigray. He did not bother to mention how Ethiopia’s army members stationed in Tigray were slain while they were in pajamas in the pitch dark hours of November 3 by the forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a now defunct party of which he once was a senior member. TPLF ruled Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018 and ruled with a heavy hand. Gruesome crimes had been committed against the people of Ethiopia by the TPLF and he was once Ethiopia’s foreign minister.
He never voiced against the untold sufferings too many Ethiopians endured during the three decades of rule of the TPLF – a party that was a mover and shaker in a coalition called EPRDF. TPLF dominated political, military, security and intelligence, and economic apparatus of Ethiopia until its demise in 2018 following daring anti-government protests in Oromia, Amhara and elsewhere in the country. The United Nations should never allow its intelligence insulted by the shamelessly crafted words of this man. Of all the TPLF guys, I thought Tedros was the more sensible and less of a criminal.
He now proved me wrong. Meanwhile, earlier, the Ethiopian government said the WHO director general was serving as a TPLF diplomat using his office and privilege, knocking on the doors of world leaders to take a stand against the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Didn’t Abiy opened avenues for the TPLF to come to their senses and embrace dialogue as a way of resolving differences?
He did and he did so resisting nationwide calls for him to take measures against those hardliners who had been financing hate groups everywhere to create mayhem all over the nation. TPLF turned down the efforts of those most revered and respected members of society including religious leaders, elders, athletes and eminent personalities to bring the hardliners back on peaceful track. Was Tedros appreciative of those efforts? No.
Why isn’t Tedros equally concerned about Mai-Kadra where a group of TPLF-financed youths massacred more than 1000 innocent civilians? Why is he not concerned about the scores of girl university students abducted by an armed group in southwestern Ethiopia? Why is he not concerned about the ethnic-based massacres in Benishangul Gumuz and elsewhere? The UN should now be clear who is at the head of WHO!!!